Retainer for parachute shroud lines



Jan-9,1945. H. WILSON 2,366,764

RETAINER FQR PARACHUTE SHROUD LINES Filed July 26, 1943 v2 Sheets-Sheet2 Patented Jan. 9, 1945 RETAINER Fon PARACHUTE sHnoUD LINES HarryWilson, Dayton, Ohio Application July 26, 1943, serial No. 496,225

, (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883. as amended April 30, 1928;370 O. G. '157) 2 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manu- I factured and used by orfor the Government for 4governmental purposes, Without the payment to meof any royalty thereon.

This invention pertains to retainers for packets of bights of shroudlines of a parachute, the primary object of which is to compressionallyhold the bights of the lines to prevent entanglement of` the unfurledportions as the lines pay out. C This invention is an improvement of thetype disclosed in United States Patent No. 1,774,513,

which includes a plurality of spaced pockets disline folds are unfurledfrom a given pocket. the

remaining bights of that packet are freed, and may cause seriousentanglement, because the cross-sectional area of the pockets remainsubstantially constant. I

An aim of the present invention is to compressionally grip the bights ofthe shroud line packet, as they are successively reduced in numberduring the p ay out, by providing elastically distortive retainingpockets.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from thefollowing specification, appended claims, and the accompanying drawingsillustrating certain embodiments having the characteristics of myinvention and by which the same may be practiced.

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective of an open parachute pack illustratingthe application of the Improved shroud line packet retainers and thearrangement of the shroud lines therein.

Fig. 2 illustrates the manner in which the parachute pack is worn and inwhich position the improved shroud line retainers are stretched intomaximum holding position, as shown'in Fig. 5.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section in perspective, illustrative of theimproved retainers slackened for loading of the shroud line bights.

Fig. 4 is a sectionalized view illustrative of the unloaded retainerunder tension.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the loaded retainer sectionalized toillustrate the shape of the 'retainer loops when under tension acrossthe back of the wearer. l

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are enlarged sections of embodiments of my inventionillustrating the use of different materials.

The present invention is intendedfor use in connection with non-rigid,frameless parachute packs of the character illustrated in Fig. 1 andconsists of a pair of strap-like membersl IIB and I I disposed acrossthe inner face of the back panel I2 of the parachute pack and at theopposite ends thereof. Each of the strap-like members are formed by apair of superimposed strips of material I3 and I4 secured together attheir ends I5 and I6 and at spaced intervals II to provide spacedpassageways I8 which may be opened to loop formations I9 as shown inFig. 3 or drawn to slit formation 20 as shown in Fig. 4, or drawn downupon the shroud line bights as shown in Fig. 5.

At least one of the strips I3 and I4 of each of the strap-like membersI0 and II is of elastic material. In the embodiment illustrated in Fig,7, the bottom strip I4 is of rubber or of expansible fabric interwovenwith rubber threads, whereas the upper strip I3 is of the non-elasticcharacter such as canvas, leather, etc. In the embodiment of Figs. 3, 4and 5, however, both strips I3 and I4 are of rubber or rubber-likematerial. In lieu of rubber, both strips may be of expansible fabricinterwoven with elastic threads as illustrated in Fig. 6.

The strips I3 and I4, as secured together to form the loop-providedstrap-like members I0 and I I, are stretched at least to the point atwhich the loop formations are substantially closed or to the point atwhich the respective strips of a strap-like member are broughtsubstantially into parallelism, as shown in Fig. 4, and are thencesecured at their ends I5 and I6 to the inner face of the back I2 of thepack. The portions of the strap-like members intermediate the securedends are unsecured and free to contract and open the passageways I8 intoloop formations I9 as shown in Fig. 7; free to be slackened to open thepassageways as shown in Figs.` 3 and 6; and free to be stretched backinto parallelism when the portions of the back of the pack between thepoints of securement of the respective straps are made taut, as shown inFig. 4 and in dotted lines in Fig. 7.

In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 8, the back I2 of theparachute'pack is utilized as an equivalent for the bottom strip I4 ofthe embodiment illustrated in Figs. l through 7. In this embodiment, thestrip I3 is secured at the intervals I1 directly to the back of thepack.

In packing the shroud lines, the back I2 of the pack is slackened, asshown in Figs. 3 and 6 or permitted to be drawn slack by the strap as bythe embodiment of Fig. 7, sumciently'to allow the strap passageways I8to be distended or opened to readily permit the packets oi' shroud bedrawn down oval-wise and compressionallygrip the packet of shroud linebights. As the bights are successively drawn or payed out, the tensionon the back of the pack and elasticity of the loop forming stripscontinue to reduce the capacity of the loops. whereby the holding eectcontinues down to the last bight.

Having described my invention and illustrated an embodiment by which thesame may be practiced, what I claim is: l

1. Shroud line retaining means of a parachute pack comprising strips oielastic material secured together in superimposed relationship at spacedintervals and secured at their ends to a member of said parachute packat points sumciently removed irom one another to cause said strips to bedrawn into substantial parallelism when said parachute pack member isdrawn taut.

2. A parachute pack having spaced rows of loops expansible` to receiveand automatically Y contractible to compressionally hold bights ofshroud lines, wherein the rows of loops are formed of superimposedstrips, the upper one of which is secured in a corrugated manner atspaced intervals to the lower-,most member oi' said superimposed strips.wherein the lower-most strip is of elastic material, and wherein saidsuperimposed strips are secured at their ends to a member oi theparachute .pack at points removed from one another a distance'substantially equal to the length of the upper-most of saidsuperimposed strips when drawn taut.

HARRY WILSON.

